Hair brushes and combs are designed to untangle hair. It is ordinary for women and men to carry a brush or comb with them to untangle or smooth out their hair throughout the day. It is troublesome for a user to carry a hair brush in his pocket or bag because the bristles not only take up volume, but also become entangle with other items in the user's pocket or bag. When items entangle or interact with the bristles, the bristles can become damaged and render the hair brush not usable or not as effective.
Prior art brush such as that disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0249169 to Lee sought to overcome the problems of transporting and storing a hair brush and protecting the bristles. The prior art Lee brush provides a flexible membrane 12 that can be popped up (FIG. 1) or popped down (FIGS. 2B and 5) to decrease the volume of the bristles 24 and to protect the bristles 24. To pop the membrane 12 down, a user has to push on the distal tips of the bristles 24 with his fingers or force his fingers in between the bristles, thereby pushing the bristles 24 aside to reach the membrane surface 12 to push it down. Upon the collapse of the bristles 24 to the popped down configuration, the user's fingers may remain trapped among the bristles 24, which may be uncomfortable and would damage the bristles. To pop the membrane 12 up, a user can push on any part of the membrane 12.
Some disadvantages of the prior art Lee brush is that the flexible membrane 12 remain exposed when in the popped down configuration (FIGS. 2A and 5), which is uncomfortable to pushed against and can easily damage the joint between the bristles 24 and the membrane 12 when pushed repeatedly. It also limits the type of joint and bristles that can be used in the prior art brush. For examples, a tapered fused joint is required and a plug and glue joint would not work as it would be painful to push against such joint, which is also unsightly. Also, the size of the brush is not a full size brush, but a very compact version of a hair brush. This is partly due to the unsupported flexible membrane 12, which flexes when being used. Such prior art brush cannot be full size because the flexible membrane 12 would simply popped down upon being used. Additionally, it is very cumbersome to change from the popped up configuration to the popped down configuration, and vice versa, due to the uniformly dispersed bristles on the flexible membrane (which is necessary due to the small size brush). Again, due to the uniformly dispersed bristles and the small size brush, when the membrane 12 changes from the popped down configuration to the popped up configuration, distal ends of the brush can easily become trapped along the annular flange of the top section 16.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved collapsible hair brush that facilitate its transport and storage and protect the bristles that is easy to use and manipulate.